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MAURITANIA
NATIONAL
SURVEY
Insights on Ebola Knowledge
DESIGNS
DATA
DECISIONS
]
A SIGNIFICANT PROPORTION OF RESPONDENTS STATED THEY WERE
]
UNAWARE OF HOW THE VIRUS WAS
TRANSMITTED FROM AN INFECTED TO A NONINFECTED INDIVIDUAL.
CONTEXT
In response
to the Ebola
outbreak in
West Africa,
Mauritania
banned entry of nationals from
Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and
Sierra Leone, and attempted to
close its border with Mali and
Senegal. Mauritania’s pourous
and conflict prone borders with
Mali and Algeria, combined
with frequent direct flights to
major international cities such
as Paris and Istanbul, increased
the risk of rapid transmission
of Ebola. Given these risks,
organizations such as the
Qatar Red Crescent started
to utilize radio, television,
pamphlets, and training
sessions to increase awareness
and knowledge of the Ebola
virus among the Mauritanian
people.
INITIAL
FINDINGS
The vast majority of Mauritanians
were aware of the Ebola virus,
where only 16% of respondents
stated that they were unaware of Ebola. However,
gaps in knowledge still exist between urban and rural
populations, as 24% of rural households never heard
of the Ebola virus, compared to only 8% of urban households.
Within urban areas, traditional
media played a major role in
educating the population about the
Ebola virus as demonstrated when:
Conversely, informal methods
of communicaiton dominated
knowledge dissemination in rural
areas where:
61% REPORTED
RECEIVING
47% WERE
INFORMED
INFORMATION
ABOUT EBOLA
PRIMARILY FROM
TELEVISION
and
ABOUT THE VIRUS
FROM FRIENDS,
FAMILY MEMBERS,
OR NEIGHBORS
14%
OF URBAN
RESPONDENTS
REPORTED
RECEIVING
INFORMATION
FROM RADIO.
an additional
RURAL
35% OF
RESPONDENTS STATED
THEIR PRIMARY SOURCE OF
INFORMATION RELATED TO
EBOLA WAS RADIO.
The Ebola virus
is transmitted
through direct
contact with
infected blood or body fluids. A common
misconception is that the virus can also
be spread through air particles. To assess knowledge
levels among Mauritanians, a multiple response
question related to modes of Ebola transmission
was administered to those nationals who had heard
about Ebola.
UNDERSTANDING
EBOLA
TRANSMISSION
Urban respondents were more likely to believe that
Ebola was transmitted through the exchange of bodily
fluids and through personal contact with an infected
individual. Although they knew the correct modes of
virus transmission,
OF RURAL
URBAN
32% OF
RESPONDENTS and 16% RESPONDENTS
BELIEVED THAT EBOLA WAS ALSO
TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE AIR.
Furthermore, 9
A lack of knowledge
%
about virus transmission
OF RURAL
was evident from this
RESPONDENTS
survey. A significant
BELIEVED THAT IT
WAS
TRANSMITTED
proportion of
THROUGH
respondents, although
DRINKING WATER.
they may have stated
the correct means of Ebola transmission, stated they
were actually unaware of how the virus was transmitted
from an infected to a non-infected individual. This
gap in knowledge demonstrates a need for further
interventions aimed at increasing prevention and
treatment knowledge for highly infectious diseases like
Ebola.
IN URBAN AREAS,
IN RURAL AREAS,
OF
MAURITANIANS’S
STATED THAT
THEY WERE
UNSURE
HOW THE
INFECTION WAS
CONTRACTED.
% OF
RESPONDENTS
STATED THAT
THEY WERE
UNSURE
HOW THE
INFECTION WAS
CONTRACTED.
40
25%
while
*
KNOWLEDGE
OF EBOLA TRANSMISSION
IS SHOWN TO BE
LOWEST IN THE
AREA
BORDERING
MALI.
FUTURE
ANALYSIS
D3 is
currently
conducting an in-depth
analysis of the data to
create logistic regression models, which
take the complex design into account,
to determine predictors of knowledge
about the disease.
METHODOLOGY
The Mauritania Wave 1
Pilot study is a face-toface survey of 1,031 Mauritanians
over the age of 18. The sample was
created using the 2013 census and was
stratified by Wilaya and urban/rural
status. Settlements and urban blocks
were selected using a multi-stage
cluster probability sample. Households
were selected using enumeration and
a team of 18 male and female local
interviewers collected data on tablets
with the Research Control Solutions
program. Interviews were conducted
in Arabic and French. Data quality
was ensured using GPS coordinates,
field photos, back-checks, and direct
supervision by field supervisors and
managers. The final weight includes a
base weight, non-response weight and
a post-stratification weight.